Paul Vizzio - Early Life

Early Life

An intensely private person, relatively little biographical information is available on Vizzio. He declines to discuss such standard matters as his birth date, his real first name (Paul is a nickname) or the names of his parents. The following details are known: Sicilian immigrants, Vizzio’s parents arrived in the U.S. prior to World War ll, and settled in New York City. His mother worked as a radio operator in the U.S. Army during the war. His father worked as a bartender and truck driver. Both parents are deceased. Vizzio has two older siblings, a brother, Peter, and a sister, Catherine.

Vizzio’s story is emblematic of many famous American fighters. The family grew up in a six-story “railroad” tenement on 13th Street between Avenues B & C, one of the toughest neighborhoods in New York City’s Lower East Side. It was an environment filled with economic and ethnic strife, where quick hands and quick wits had more survival value than a formal education.

Enormously energetic, Vizzio had difficulty sitting through studies. He ended his schooling early, and although he participated in local team sports like baseball, basketball and swimming, he also got into the kind of minor troubles to which ghetto youths are prone. It was while serving a sentence cleaning municipal golf courses that Vizzio developed a love for golf, that has stayed with him throughout his life. He is a single-digit handicap golfer.